Europe’s OEMs call for delay in emissions targets

CO2 goals can only work in tandem with expansion of public charging infrastructure

Europe’s biggest commercial vehicle show, the biennial IAA Transportation show in Hanover, has shone a spotlight on the environmental pressures weighing on truck and bus manufacturers. 

At the event, the CEOs of seven major OEMs – DAF Trucks, Daimler Truck, Ford Otosan, Iveco Group, MAN Truck & Bus, Scania Group, and Volvo Group – called for a three-year delay to the EU’s 2030 carbon dioxide emissions compliance timeline.

They argue that their enormous investments in zero-emission technology, both battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell, have not been matched by the charging and refuelling infrastructure required to keep the wheels of commercial vehicles turning. Fewer than a dozen hydrogen refuelling stations are operational, and there are only 2,000 public chargers suitable for trucks currently available across Europe. ACEA, the vehicle manufacturers’ association, estimates that operators need at least 700 additional public truck chargers to be installed every month.

The absence of this infrastructure, alongside challenging access to power grids, high energy costs and a lack of supportive policy measures explain why only 2.4% of new heavy-duty truck registrations in Europe are currently zero-emission.

Yet EU rules require manufacturers to cut tailpipe CO2 emissions from new heavy-duty vehicles by 43% in 2030, 64% in 2035 and 90% in 2040, compared to a 2019 baseline. Missing the 2030 target by just three percentage points could result in approximately €2.2 billion of penalties, according to ACEA.

EU public charging capacity for all vehicles had reached 41.6 GW by June, an increase of 29% compared with the same period last year. Despite the 21% year-on-year rise in the number of public charge points, the 1.2 million chargers are well below the European Commission’s target of 3.5 million by the end of the decade.

Moreover, public charging infrastructure remains uneven across the EU, with Italy, Czechia, Poland, Spain, Greece and Bulgaria lagging well behind the Netherlands and Nordics.

These enabling facilities are needed to accelerate the uptake of battery electric vehicles (BEV), which accounted for almost one in four new cars registered across Europe in July, according to data from JATO Dynamics. BEV registrations climbed 51% year-on-year to 279,800 units, increasing their share of the market from 17.2% in July 2025 to 24.9% this year. Registrations of conventional combustion-powered vehicles fell by 22%, shrinking their market share sharply from 35.9% to 26.9% year-on-year.

Almost one-third (31%) of new vehicles ordered by leasing and fleet management giant Arval during H1 2026 were battery electric. The company has grown its fleet by 5.7% year-on-year to 1.93 million vehicles, prior to its acquisition of fellow international leasing company Athlon from Mercedes-Benz. But its pre-tax profits were dragged down 56.8% to €214.0 million by the normalisation of Europe’s used car market.

The importance of smoothing the end-of-contract vehicle return process has seen Germany’s Allane Mobility Group, which runs a fleet of 172,900 vehicles, expand its partnership with DEKRA from 10 to 26 return locations. Customers can now make a single appointment to have the condition of their lease vehicles assessed, and then return them.